The Levetzowstraße synagogue (also: Synagoge Tiergarten) was in the area of today’s Moabit district in what was then the Tiergarten district. The liberal synagogue was inaugurated in 1914. It was damaged during the November pogroms (Reichskristallnacht) in 1938 but could be used for services till October 1941.
In October 1941, the Gestapo headquarters informed the board of directors of the Jewish community about the imminent start of the deportations on 18. Oktober 1941 and instructed them to convert the synagogue into an assembly camp for around 1,000 people. In the main room, the seating was removed and the floor was strewn with straw so that it could be used as a night camp. The synagogue was probably chosen because it was little damaged and could accommodate around 2,000 people.
The employees of the Jewish community were forced to compile the transport lists and to help the prisoners to record the financial situation and to fill out the forms at the collection point. In addition, the Jewish community was solely responsible for the care and support of the people scheduled for deportation. From this collection point the people were forced to march to the freight station Moabit to be deported by train to the concentration camps in the East from 1941 to 1942.
The building was partially destroyed by Allied air raids and the ruins were removed in 1955. In 1988 a memorial was erected on the site of the former synagogue, called “Flammenwand” (wall of fire), depicting a ramp and a wagon with abstract “human packages” tied in iron. An additional cast-iron relief shows all 36 Berlin synagogues. A large steel plate towers into the sky and shows all transports to the concentration camps in the east that left Berlin from October 1941 to April 1945.
Multi layer colour linocut edition of 6
Single layer B&W linocut edition of 6Print size: 36 x 28 cm, paper size: 38 x 57 cm.
Paper: Canson Edition 250 gsm, 100% cotton, pH neutral and archival
The planning phase was shaped by the clashes between liberals and orthodox that was typical of Berlin. Eventually the liberals prevailed in the community. The new synagogue was inaugurated on April 7, 1914. A community centre with a religious school and some community apartments were attached to the synagogue. The synagogue, with its residential building and school building and seating for 2,120, was one of the largest in the city. The rabbi was Julius Lewkowitz (1876–1943), deported and murdered in Auschwitz.
